


Like Nobody's Loved You

by carpelucem



Category: Glee
Genre: AU, F/M, Future Fic, Schmoop, Self-indulgent fluff, Sentence Meme, Student/Teacher, but not really sentences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 04:56:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpelucem/pseuds/carpelucem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happy together, unhappy together, just together is what they were meant to be. (50 sentences on Will and Rachel + then some.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Nobody's Loved You

**Author's Note:**

> Some student/teacher, some future fic, a couple AUs - basically all of the schmoopy, fluffy, self-indulgent harlequin romantic ideas I've had for these two in one place.

01\. Comfort  
It starts with her hand circling between his shoulder blades, and the hug Mr Schue gives her after Regionals goes on a beat too long. He ducks his head when they pull apart, won’t catch her eye, and that’s when Rachel knows. 

02\. Kiss  
The first time she presses her lips to his, she’s timid but sure. It’s unplanned, but not unwanted for either of them. Rachel struggles to engrave the memory in her mind, she doesn’t want to forget the imprint of his mouth against hers. He’s obviously surprised at first, his gasp is like a bomb going off in the choir room, but then he’s kissing her back, surely and without hesitation. (It’s like a scene from an old musical, and she didn’t have to plan a thing.)

03\. Soft  
If anything, he’s too gentle, and it’s maddening to Rachel, who thinks Will’s afraid of breaking her until she sinks her teeth into his lip one night. (There are marks across her shoulder and down her back after that, and she has to think quickly when someone asks why she’s wearing a cardigan in the summer sun and why her face is suddenly so red.) 

04\. Pain  
“I wasn’t sure that’s what you meant,” he clarifies after, trying to feel his way around her thoughts on the matter, his fingertips soothing her abraded skin. Rachel shakes her head. “It’s definitely what I meant.”

05\. Potatoes  
Breakfast in bed on a lazy Saturday morning is supposed to be a romantic surprise, and he knows she appreciates the gesture, but the only thing on the tray she can eat is the pile of hash browns. (and that’s only after Will assures her he used oil, not butter. He adds more fruit and Earth Balance to his weekly shopping list.) 

06\. Rain  
When the rain pounds on the roof of his car and the windows fog over, it takes Will back to when he was in high school - snatched, stolen moments at the end of dates with Live pumping through the speakers of his hand-me-down Jeep. Maybe that’s a little part of this, remembering he was 17 once, too. (And that it wasn’t nearly as far away as it seems most days.)

07\. Chocolate  
Tina is passing around a huge box of truffles in Glee on Valentine’s Day, gushing about the surprise of the teddy bear and candy waiting in her bedroom before school. Will sees Rachel politely decline the candy and nod at the appropriate parts of the story, a perfect stage smile on her lips. (The Funny Girl libretto he found on that teacher’s conference in Cleveland sits in her locker, waiting to be discovered. He’d give anything to see her face when she finds it.)

08\. Happiness  
When it happens, when he kisses her in public without hesitation, right place at the right time and all that, it takes everything in her not to come apart and stage some Tony-worthy musical number to commemorate the occasion. In reality, she just opens her eyes and sighs, it took you long enough.

09\. Telephone  
"I'm sorry to bother you, today of all days, but my dads are visiting my grandparents in Madison for the weekend, and the plumber can't come until Tuesday, and there's just water EVERYWHERE and no one else would pick up the phone," Rachel sputters down the line. 

Will can only tell her to take a breath, he'll be over in a few minutes. Pausing to grab his tool box from the hall closet, he wonders if he gets vacation pay for spending his Easter Sunday at a student's house. (On second thought, better if no one at the school knows, because the overflowing tub only takes ten minutes to unclog and the second it starts to drain, Rachel pushes him down against the damp carpet and lays her mouth on his.)

10\. Ears  
Will plays the piano, long bluesy runs, when he can’t sleep at night. Lying with her head on his pillow, Rachel picks out a quiet harmony line, humming along until he’s back beside her.  
.  
11\. Name  
“Will -- you show me again Mr Schuester?” All it takes is a soft, “I need you over here, Rach,” and his hand is on the small of her back, guiding her into place. A wry tilt of his mouth before he turns away lets her know he caught her slip.

12\. Sensual  
He tries to be a gentleman, tries not to compare the women he’s been with, but Terri was his first and he really didn’t know any better. Emma was lovely, but she required a game plan and they never deviated. Rachel, for all her precise schedules and flawless presentation, is ever a surprise in her lack of guile (and inhibition).

13\. Death  
She likes Will best just out of rehearsal, hair plastered to his forehead and damp tshirt clinging to his back, adrenaline coursing through his veins. (He’s missed it, the spontaneity in him died a little after two showers.)

14\. Sex  
Rachel’s graduation present waits in the choir room, after the parents and students have finally filtered out to their celebrations. It was a mutual (terrible, in hindsight) decision to wait to do anything here until she’s no longer a student, just to cover their bases. Will thinks that at the end of her high school career, it’s nice to be surrounded by the bits and pieces of their beginning.

15\. Touch  
Puck’s hand lingers a little too long on her hip before he swings Rachel around the stage during their finale number. From his place at the soundboard, Will has to unclench his jaw and rein in the sudden caveman urge to march across the auditorium to forcibly remove her from his grasp. (Later, when it’s Will’s hands in her hair, his body pinning her to the door frame in his apartment, and his name on her lips, Will wonders how he could ever worry.)

16\. Weakness  
Sometimes, Will wonders if he just tattooed ‘inappropriate’ on his index finger to hold in front of his mouth, instead of parroting it all day long, exactly how much time and energy he’d save himself.

17\. Tears  
Her little vanity is crowded with flowers on opening night, and even though he knows pink tulips are her favorite, the sentiment of his McKinley red roses chokes her up a little. 

18\. Speed  
Rachel might be determined and stubborn, but she’s not always impulsive. The exception is a snowy February afternoon, when she finds in her locker the most thoughtful gift anyone’s given her. Rushing down the hallway, Rachel bursts into the choir room, through the inner door of Mr Schuester’s office. 

19.Market  
Saturday, the farmers and peddlers hosted their goods in the village center. The notions shop carried a small selection of books and a smaller choice of sheet music, but Will browsed their wares faithfully each week. There was nothing he hadn’t seen before and he was content to leave without purchasing anything, but a length of yellow ribbon caught his eye. Sunny against a dark dress, he was taken with the color combination and handed over his coin. 

(Rachel was touched by the thoughtful gesture and couldn’t wait to pair it with the dress she’d chosen for the autumn ball.)

20\. Freedom  
Most young ladies would require a maid, spending time unchaperoned with a member of the opposite sex was frowned upon in town and polite society in general. But they were at home in the country, Britt had fallen ill with a stomach ailment the night prior, and Rachel wanted to practice her aria in the meadow.

21\. Wind  
Mr Schuester stalked the edge of the forest as she sang, trying to maintain a respectable distance, but the stiff breeze carried her voice away. The instruction on her technique as he circled closer turned into a hand over her ribs, then his mouth on her skin. 

Breath control was just a matter of practice, and she was more inclined to practice when properly motivated.

22\. Jealousy  
He watched her dance with the young earl, his moves clumsy and unpracticed compared to their daily afternoon lessons. Will’s fingers clenched when Hudson’s fingers glanced across the curve of Rachel’s shoulder, toying with the end of the satin ribbon woven through her curls. The staccato triple beat of the waltz kept steady time with Will’s heart. 

23\. Life  
Though her family was without a title, Rachel was a well-bred young lady with a hefty dowry to her name. Will couldn’t imagine any possible scenario where his lack of pedigree and humble station in life would lead to Rachel choosing to spend her life with a music tutor. 

24\. Bonds  
As Will came to discover, Rachel’s family were no strangers to extraordinary love matches. They offered their blessing and gazed fondly as she wed the man of her choosing. After the wedding lunch, before they set off for their honeymoon, Rachel readied her nosegay to toss into the attending crowd. Unwinding the yellow satin binding the flowers together, Rachel tucked the ribbon into her reticule and pressed a kiss to her husband’s lips. 

25\. Hands  
The minute Principal Figgins hands Rachel her diploma, she glances back to where Will sits in the audience, a broad smile on his lips. (It reads proud to everyone else, but to her it says finally.)

26\. Taste  
Rachel’s not preachy about her eating habits, but Will decides to go vegan for a week, just to see what happens. (He never tells Rachel how he caved on the fourth day. He loves her, but bacon’s a close second.)

27\. Innocence  
When she catches a glimpse of Mr Schuester during their performances, Rachel’s never not surprised at the unironic joy on his face. He nods his head, mouths the words, is so utterly engrossed in their songs that he looks like a little kid. (It’s a beautiful thing.)

28\. Forever  
After he slipped the ring on Rachel’s finger, softly repeating the words in front of their family and friends, Will’s eyes never left her face. (And they made fun of her for having a life plan when she was sixteen. Rachel had to bite back a smile because starring role on Broadway? Check. Tony? Check. Mr Schuester? _Check_.)

29\. Sickness  
She’s obsessed with coffee ice cream the entirety of her pregnancy, in between the soft pretzels and the nacho cheese and - God, how did he never realize everything with Terri wasn’t real? It’s not just an overused cliche, Rachel’s actually glowing the last six months, a beacon of light in his world. 

30\. Blood  
His head was covered in a thatch of hair, dark like Rachel’s and curly like Will’s. His cries filled the room as he was laid in his father’s arms for the first time and Rachel beamed through her tears - her boy could already command a room. . 

31\. Melody  
He endured the good natured teasing during his song examples for glee club, but Rachel isn’t lying when she admits to him later that his voice is one of the best she’s ever heard. (She hopes the kiss she presses to his lips immediately after conveys her sincerity.) 

32\. Star  
After she flies back to New York, Will finds himself at least a dozen times during the day absently running his fingers over the imprint her necklace left on his forearm.

33\. Home  
The apartment is still pretty bare, just framed posters leaning against walls and a lone shelf of college and family photos over the fireplace. Rachel perches on the back of the couch, dangling a shoe from her toe. Soon a trail of her clothes leads back to his room, and she’s sprawled across his comforter, all dark hair and golden skin, the prettiest thing he’s seen in longer than he can remember and Will wonders why he would ever bother decorating.

34\. Confusion  
On a Glee field trip to Detroit to see Les Mis, Rachel wonders why Eponine never just pushed Marius against the wall of the ABC Cafe and told him how she really felt. (She’s found the direct approach actually works, sometimes.)

35\. Hair  
Will curves against her at night, and her fingers absently stroke through his curls. Her mind drifts to Coach Sylvester, and Rachel smiles because Sue was terribly wrong when it came to Will’s hair.

36\. Lightning/Thunder  
"I never would have guessed you were a superhero fan, Mr Schue," Rachel laughs as they settle into their seats and she takes a sip of her drink. (It’s not a date. It’s just the glee coach and captain catching a movie after discussing set lists.)  
"How do you know a mild-mannered Spanish teacher isn't just my alter ego?" He shoots back, and it’s then Rachel notices how far he's sitting from her, the armrest between them as effective as a moat around a fortress. (Definitely not a date.)  
"Dealing with high schoolers every day is enough of a superpower," she reassures him, sneaking a last look before the lights dim and the previews for Thor flash across the screen. (His fingers brush hers for just a second when the plot gets tense, and then a few minutes later they give up the pretense and Mr Schue’s palm rests warmly on top of hers. Not a date?)

37\. Technology  
Her MySpace videos move from angsty showtunes to upbeat love songs over the course of her junior year, and instead of wearing her heart on her sleeve, it’s broadcast across her YouTube upload history. 

38\. Waves  
They watch Titanic on a Friday night, and it’s only as he’s ejecting the DVD that Rachel tells him her favorite part of the movie is the song in the closing credits. (Will can count at least half a dozen ways he would have rather spent three hours with her on the couch.)

39\. Gift  
Will was pretty sure he’d blown his first gig at the coffee shop when only about six people showed up. A few clapped politely after each song, seemed to really be listening, but the rest were absorbed in their lattes and conversation. When his set was done, Will braced himself for the bad news, but the manager of the Lima Bean handed him an envelope with three twenties in it and told him they’d see him the next week. (Lima was about as far from New York as Will could get, but it was close-ish to his parents in Toledo, and teaching gigs where he could use both halves of his Spanish and music degree were few and far between. He wasn’t the guy to look the horse in the mouth.)

40\. Devotion  
She’d been at the first few shows, and she actually paid attention to his set. Will would be lying if he said he didn’t notice the steady tap of her fingers keeping the beat against her slender tan thigh. 

41\. Smile  
He noticed her light up when he started in on a soft version of Come Rain or Come Shine, mouthing the words along with Will as he sang. 

After, she complimented him on his song choice, and launched into a discussion about Judy Garland vs Barbra Streisand’s version. (Will preferred Etta James, but the girl - Rachel, she informed him, and she was a student, working towards a career on Broadway sooner rather than later - had a deep, enduring love for Barbra.)

42\. Completion  
Three months of Wednesday night shows and Rachel had moved from the back to the front row of tables. They usually had coffee together and talked about their favorite old movies and Rachel grilled him about the musicals he’d seen in New York. Will began to lament the start of the semester, Rachel going back to wherever she attended. They were the only dates he’d had all summer. 

43\. Clouds  
The last week of August was grey and heavy, the sky threatening to burst open at any moment. His shirt was soaked by the time he got his guitar and mic inside the cafe, and Will wasn’t terribly fond of performing with wet hair and damp jeans in the air conditioned coffee shop. But when Rachel smiled at him over her latte as he started Singin’ in the Rain, it helped warm him up. 

He asked her on an actual date the next night. 

44\. Sun  
As the sun sank red in the late summer sky, Will picked her up from a tidy suburban split level. There was a passing mention of her two dads on a business trip to Montreal when he rang her doorbell, and she blushed when he handed her a bouquet of lilies. An hour later they were in Dayton, at a Thai place because he missed spicy food and Lima wasn’t much of a culinary destination.

(Rachel beamed when she opened the menu and saw the array of vegetarian options, going off on a tangent about how sick she was of the spaghetti marinara at Breadstix - Will hadn’t been yet.)

45\. Moon  
Walking through Garden Station, Will’s fingers found Rachel’s when a soloist began Some Enchanted Evening. She curtsied prettily to him when he bowed, such a gallant and romantic gesture that Will was almost embarrassed if not for the wonder on Rachel’s face. They waltzed a few moments across the grass, and he sang the words into her ear, and her skirt fanned out over the lawn when they collapsed in a giggling heap. 

46\. Sky  
His arm stretched behind her shoulders and she curled into his side, watching the stars wink through the city lights. 

“Can’t get this in New York -” his surely witty observation was chopped short by the feel of Rachel shifting in his arms, turning until he could feel her breath on his cheek. Will only had to tilt his head forward a scant inch before his mouth touched hers. 

His hand didn’t leave hers the entire car ride back, thumb endlessly tracing the hills and valleys of her fingers while Rachel hummed along with the radio, watching the lights from passing cars blur together.

47\. Heaven  
They spent Labor Day weekend in his apartment, Rachel in one of his shirts on the couch, eating popcorn and watching Mad Men. Monday afternoon was bittersweet, grilling on the patio and a hastily thrown together shortcake that turned into a last supper with his summer girl. He had to be at the high school bright and early Tuesday morning and Rachel was back to her routine the following Monday.

His last taste of her was the trace of strawberry on his lips before she let herself into her fathers’ house.

48\. Hell  
The last Spanish teacher was clearly a packrat who hadn’t thrown away a handout in the last ten years. Will spent two days with trash bags, decluttering his classroom, and the rest in staff meetings or trying to determine the quickest route from the language arts hall to the choir room. 

He couldn’t sleep Sunday night, and Will hoped that Rachel wasn’t as jittery as he was at the idea of a new school year. 

He could see her in her dorm room, Funny Girl poster over her bed and DVDs sorted in a careful row along the wall. 

His first day was relatively pain free, sans a run-in with the cheerleading coach who frightened the hell out of him. Will’s classes seemed eager to learn and there had been no beginner hiccups.

He was anxious for Glee tryouts Tuesday afternoon, there were a dozen names on his list, and the first eleven had been pretty stellar. The McKinley Glee Club had won sectionals and regionals the year prior, but just missed out at Nationals. 

“‘Next, please,” Will called out from his seat behind the light board in the auditorium, thankful to reach the end of the auditions. He took a moment to appreciate the talent of the backing band when he heard a familiar intro start. 

A girl in a blue sundress stood in the center of the stage, and Will almost choked on his water when she spoke. “I’m Rachel Berry, and I’ll be singing Come Rain or Come Shine, as popularized by the great Barbra Streisand.” 

Holy hell.

49\. Fear  
When Rachel zips her suitcase to stow it under her bed, she looks around her new room and she can’t help but feel a tug of uncertainty that this, New York a second time, it isn’t the right thing to do. She has a life in Lima, family and friends, and she could find something to keep her happy there, eventually. 

Then Will finishes assembling the extra bookcase they had to buy, lugged across the city in a cab from IKEA, stows his drill, and leads her to the window. There’s a sliver of a view of the skyline from between the buildings across the street, and if she tries really hard, she can imagine the traffic outside almost sounds like music. 

She can feel Will behind her, his arms wrapped around her stomach and his voice in her ear. 

“Have I ever told you how proud of you I am?” 

Rachel smiles at the wistful note in his voice, and she nods. 

“Maybe once or twice.” She grips his fingers between hers and squeezes. “I’m pretty proud of you, too, Mr Schuester.” 

50\. Supernova  
Will’s breath catches in his throat when he sees the candid snapshot stuck to the mirror of Rachel’s vanity on her opening night. Six kids are crowded together onstage in their red t-shirts and jeans, a few moments after the final strains of a Journey song. Underneath in Finn’s unmistakably messy scrawl, it reads ‘don’t stop believing.’


End file.
